The post race press conference at the Japanese Grand Prix started like this, “Q: ‘Lewis, let’s pick it up with you first. At the start obviously you lost ground. What part did the dampness on that side of the race track play, do you think, in your getaway? Perhaps a little detail about your fight back and then the championship position as it stands, trailing Nico by 33 points with four races to go.’

LH: ‘Firstly, big congratulations to the team, incredible success for the last three years, very proud to be a part of it and to help contribute to it – so a big thank you to everyone for all of their hard work. This is a great result. Yeah, I don’t think the damp patch had really anything to do with it. I just had… I made a mistake and then just working my way up from there was tricky but, y’know, I did the best I could.’

Q: ‘And the 33 points, four races to go, feelings on that.’

LH: ‘That’s a healthy margin for Nico, he did a great job, so congrats to him.’”

That’s the most defeated, and gracious, I’ve encountered Lewis Hamilton when asked about relative performance to his teammate this season, if not ever. And he’s right, with four races and only 100 more points available in 2016, Rosberg holds a formidable margin and the momentum. After Italy, Hamilton lead by two points. In the following three races, he scored 30-points, Rosberg collected 65. Rosberg won more times this season as well, a tiebreaker would currently fall the German’s way. Hamilton then has to score 34 more points than Rosberg. Or an average of 8.5 more points per race for the remaining races. Critically, even if Hamilton wins the next four in a row, Rosberg can hold the title with four second-place finishes.

But certainly do not count Hamilton out. Rosberg once lead Hamilton by 43 points. Hamilton went on to win six of the next seven Grands Prix and put Rosberg 19 points in the hole. But, frankly, I’ve never seen Rosberg drive so well and while Hamilton certainly suffered more points-robbing bad luck, the last few races Rosberg beat Hamilton with pace. It’s pretty much been a head-to-head race for the title since 2014, but this year could prove the most exciting fight yet. And maybe, just maybe, the 2017 rule changes will allow another team to challenge.

The other underdog strong performance came from Force India. They now hold a 10-point gap in the Constructor’s title over Williams, making fourth place seem possible and approaching likely. In Malaysia and Japan both Hulkenberg and Perez scored points, Perez heading the charge.

McLaren didn’t fare to well in the Japanese Grand Prix, Honda’s home race, but they didn’t expect to either. For whatever reason, Suzuka exacerbates the McLaren’s weaknesses, not strengths. It’s an ironic anomaly in an otherwise encouraging second half of the season. In Malaysia, McLaren earned a double points finish and they now enjoy a solid 15 point lead over Toro Rosso, sixth in the Constructor’s championship is likely.

For the remainder of the season, all eyes will stay focused on Mercedes’, they clinched both the Constructor’s and Driver’s Championship in Japan, now it’s just a matter of which driver.

“…Very happy, it was a hard slog yesterday with trying a few things, [but the] car is a bit more normal now. I enjoyed qualifying, it’s always a pain when you’re 30 milliseconds behind the car in front but, uh, P9 is not too bad considering the Force India’s pace so far this weekend. I’m very happy with that, in front of both Williams.”

So said Jenson Button to Formula 1 News after carrying through to Q3 and, with just one run, qualifying 9th for the Malaysian Grand Prix. That in of itself is not that big of a deal, but this is Button’s 300th grand prix, which puts him behind Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher and no one else in number of race starts. Tomorrow Button becomes just the third driver in history to achieve such longevity. In fact, his teammate Fernando Alonso is 4th on the list, 32 grands prix behind. McLaren does not currently build quickest chassis nor does Honda manufacture the strong power unit, so Button’s performance deserves accolades.

Even more exciting, Button goes on to say that he thinks he can stay ahead of both Williams and race the folks around him, so perhaps he’ll also finish in the top ten. Finishing in the points would be a well-deserved feather to put in his 300-grand-prix-hat.

Button qualified behind both Force India’s. Perez led in 7th, Hulkenberg right behind in 8th. That means Force India has a Button buffer between them and their closest Constructor championship rival, Williams. Force India is currently ahead by one point, but they now have a chance to widen the gap and tighten their grip on 4th, an admirable feat for the small, Silverstone based team.

Further ahead, Hamilton got serious and once again handily out-qualified teammate Nico Rosberg. But, as Rosberg said in the post qualy press conference. “As we know from this year, second place doesn’t mean that victory is not possible tomorrow. We’ve seen that so many times. Still very optimistic for tomorrow. “ It’s generally advantage Rosberg on race start, he proved it recently in Italy. One key difference I see, however, Hamilton seems laser focused and serious this weekend. I find it harder to forecast a flubbed start.

No matter, even if both Mercedes nail their starts and sail off ahead from the competition, we’ll get to see Ferrari and Red Bull duke it out for the final spot on the podium. Red Bull Racing starts ahead, but Ferrari may have an advantage on race pace and strategy. Definitely one to watch tomorrow.

“… First of all, big congratulations to Nico, he drove fantastically well all weekend and fully deserved the win. Very tough day today, as always it is here in Singapore. This weekend has just been a bot of a tricky one for me, but I’m still glad I could get back up on the podium and get some points for the team.” So said Lewis Hamilton on the podium after the Singapore Grand Prix. He so rarely tips his hat to his teammate I rewound the coverage and watched again. Then I read the press conference transcript and checked a third time.

That’s how well Rosberg performed in Singapore. In qualifying he wedged half a second between his pole time and Hamilton’s P3 lap. The race start gods answered the German’s prayers and he launched the car flawlessly, leaving no gap for the ever-aggressive Ricciadro to try and fill. Rosberg went on to maintain a solid gap throughout the grand prix whilst keeping the brakes from their melting point, if only just. Red Bull applied clever strategy and Ricciardo again went on the Mercedes hunt in the closing stages of the race, yet again Rosberg answered and picked up the pace just enough to keep the energy drink emblazoned car behind.

Now Rosberg knows what it takes to receive a compliment from Hamilton. That impressed. That was a championship drive. Keep it up and you might even win over a couple English fans. In the meantime, enjoy your reclaimed lead in the Driver’s Championship, ahead by eight by the way, since you’re not “focused on points.”

Claire Williams no doubt focused on points. In Singapore, her team earned none while Force India grabbed four, which means Williams fell behind in the Constructor’s Championship by one, now 5th. Certainly a street course adorned with 23 corners does not suit the slippery and downforce deficient chassis. But name a course remaining on the calendar that does?

And perhaps the one person happier than Rosberg is Daniil Kyvat. After his demotion to Toro Rosso, the Russian drove deeper and deeper into despair. One bad result followed another, his new teammate, Carlos Sainz Jr., handily outperforming him. In Singapore, Kvyat turned a corner. His moment of redemption came when he successfully held off his seat stealing nemesis, Max Verstappen, for several laps. Verstappen started poorly, but quickly caught Kvyat. The two got very close, Verstappen definitely tried many different attempts, some of them a bit dicey, but Kvyat defended admirably and, mercifully, no team orders came to force the pass. Those several laps flooded Kvyat with much needed confidence. He went on to finish ninth, his best since switching to Toro Rosso and well ahead of his teammate. Afterwards he announced to the media that his passion was back. Our passion to see it again in Malaysia is back too.

When the circus finished their last Saturday in Europe at the Italian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton looked unstoppable with a decisive pole lap, clearing teammate Rosberg by nearly half a second. One bad start from Hamilton on Sunday, however, flipped the script and Rosberg took the win and gained seven points on Hamilton.

Here we are, two weeks later, and a near exact mirrored result reflects on Rosberg. He performed brilliantly today and claimed pole by over half a second. Even better for the German, it’s not his teammate sharing the front row. Daniel Ricciardo split the Mercedes with a stonking lap in the Red Bull. Hamilton finished Saturday P3, over seven-tenths behind. But, and this is a big but, both Rosberg and Hamilton have botched starts this season. And looking in the mirror shows us it’s Rosberg’s turn to have trouble when the lights go out.

Rosberg fans can only hope the German immediately dropped to his knees, clasped his hands together, and prayed most passionately to the race start god. Ask the race start god for strong clutch-bite, smooth torque modulation, and minimal tire spin. Beg for quick reaction time, or at least quicker than those around you. Ask for the strength to keep your eyes on turn-one and your mind on the exact start procedure given to you by Mercedes engineers. Rosberg, this is your chance to regain the championship lead. Don’t blow it!

Speaking of championships, both Force India cars qualified ahead of both Williams. Williams currently is ahead of Force India by two, itty-bitty points. So a strong performance by either Hulkenberg or Perez may catapult the team right back to fourth in the constructors championship, a position they grabbed after Belgium and immediately lost it again in Italy.

In a surprise show of form, Toro Rosso qualified ahead both the aforementioned teams, Carlos Sainz in 6th and Daniil Kvyat in 7th. That tells us the chassis is held back the year-old Ferrari power unit. The Italian team currently stands in 7th in the constructors, 3 points behind McLaren. A strong performance could move them up.

Singapore is full of what ifs, a lot of possibilities, and a decent number of potential shake-ups. Let’s not forget that Vettel starts from the back and Red Bull has its best chance of the year to steal another victory from Mercedes.

]]>http://funwithcars.com/2016-singapore-grand-prix-qualifying/feed/014052016 Italian Grand Prix in Pictureshttp://funwithcars.com/2016-italian-grand-prix-in-pictures/
Sun, 11 Sep 2016 01:16:36 +0000http://funwithcars.com/?p=1401Jamey Price always shoots with his soul. I know it because the emotion of the moment comes through beautifully in every image. Put him in a place chock full of passion and excitement and the resultant pictures are simply stunning.

Monza and it’s original banked oval. We’ve all seen it, yet it’s a sight to behold every time. The shade of neighboring trees cast their shadow on the otherwise barren concrete. It’s in stark contrast to the age of cigar shaped 160mph rockets blasting by. Memories.

Daniil Kvyat running nearly a car width past the “track limits” of Parabolica. You know, not that long ago Kvyat would’ve been skating off in the grass. Is this real progress? Safer, maybe. But definitely not the same challenge to nail the throttle early while exiting this fast increasing radius corner.

Focusing on Mercedes does put everything else in a blur. According to Jamey, they look incredibly planted compared to the rest. Around Monza, that’s crucial. The lap times prove it.

When Hamilton’s hands touch that wheel, the results devastate the competition. He lapped Monza half a second quicker than Rosberg and third quickest Vettel by nearly nine-tenths.

Race day. No grand prix comes remotely close to the passion seen in Italy, where nearly everyone bleeds Ferrari red. By the way, is that a Finnish flag I see waving atop the prancing horse? Nice.

It’s easy to say in hindsight, but Hamilton looks to lack the intense focus you imagine a driver needs when preparing for the race start.

Rosberg, on the other hand, stayed focused, nailed the start and put on a clinic. Unlike 2014, he kept his wits and didn’t give Hamilton any chance to steal away this race result.

The Italians didn’t care. Look at the near homogeneous Ferrari red in the stands. That image is mirrored at every grandstand. Look at the attention. It’s Ferrari or nothing.

Jamey Price captured the entire grand prix in this shot. You can see the elation in Rosberg, the disgust in Hamilton, and the bewilderment in Vettel. How will Ferrari catch Mercedes? It’s a head scratcher.

Wow.

Vettel feels the love. And it shows. In Italy, it is Ferrari. If you are part of it, you are a hero.

“To be clear, I’m very definitely not retiring. I’m contracted for both 2017 and 2018, I intend to work hard on car-development, and I’m sure I’ll get behind the wheel of the new car at some point.” Said Jenson Button in regards to him not sitting in a race seat next year. Button also said, “I love McLaren-Honda – I firmly believe it’s made up of the best bunch of people I’ve ever worked with – and I have no intention of ever driving for another Formula 1 team,”

Button, allow me to be clear with you. You’re retiring. Yes, I get it. You’ll still develop the car. And, yes, you may enter a grand prix if either Vandoorne or Alonso cannot. But you’re no longer a full-time driver anymore. You retired from that role. I’m sad about your decision because Williams, almost certainly, offered you a seat. They’re the other proud English team and, in-fact, more successful than McLaren. I’m even sadder that you cannot admit your decision means the close of one-chapter and an opening of another.

Felipe Massa on the other hand, announced his retirement without any different label. “My career has been more than I ever expected and I am proud of what I have achieved,” Massa added. “Finally, it is a great honor to finish my career at such an amazing team as Williams Martini Racing. It will be an emotional day when I finally conclude my Formula One career with my 250th Grand Prix start in Abu Dhabi.” Massa’s performance became inconsistent this season; he’s leaving at the right time and with dignity.

Nico Rosberg isn’t retiring. He’s not quitting either. After the Belgium Grand Prix we said Rosberg needed a little luck. Luck came, Rosberg capitalized. The race start at Italy mirrored Germany. There, Rosberg outpaced Hamilton and left the Briton to fume about his inability to match his teammates pace. No matter, on race day Rosberg slugged away from the line and finished fourth.

In years past, Rosberg struggled at Monza. In fact, the 2014 Italian Grand Prix proved pivotal as he, again, benefitted from a poor Hamilton start, but failed to defend when Hamilton caught him. Hamilton took the win and went on to take the Championship. Not this year, the German managed his pace, tires, and wherewithal perfectly. He started clean and built a healthy gap straight away. This applied too much pressure for Hamilton to overcome. As Formula ends its post-summer-break, two-race stint in Europe, Rosberg closed the gap to Hamilton to 2 points from 19. Momentum is on his side as well. Game on in Singapore.

Hamilton stole Rosberg’s best chance of retaining his own championship hopes at Spa. With 55 grid positions tacked on the 44 car, Rosberg secured pole and saw his best chance to swallow up his teammates points lead and head to Italy on top. Indeed, the German checked every box within his control. He won the race without overly stressing the car and collected maximum points. But Hamilton, storming from the back and avoiding calamity along the way, made it to the podium. Collecting 15 points instead of the 1 or 2 most expected. He kept the championship lead most expected him to lose by a margin of 9 points. And now he also has a fresh supply of engines, or power units, or whatever you want to call them.

To win the championship, Rosberg now has to rely on talent, and talent alone. He possesses lots of it. Rosberg is extremely quick and cunning and capable. But history shows you need that, and a bit of luck to take on Hamilton. Belgium presented a chance to give Rosberg an edge and a chance to carry momentum, which is one of his strengths. But now he’ll need to start winning like the beginning of the season and not stop for another 8 races.

Kevin Magnussen took a massive hit after losing control of his Renault exiting Eau Rouge. But reports are positive that he will pass all medical tests and race again in Italy. The Renault cocooned Magnussen brilliantly, but largely he walked away from that accident due to luck. That same impact, nose first, would’ve hurt. We are also lucky as fans that the accident played out as it did. Racing is fundamentally a dangerous sport. Drivers control incredible amounts of energy. And controlling energy is like handling a Black Mamba snake, if it gets even the slightest bit out of hand, it’s potentially deadly.

Too many accidents like Magnussen’s allow fans to take-for-granted the real risk drivers endure. Don’t. We’re lucky not to see energy bite more often. So, thank you safety team for working quickly. Thank you current safety rules for mandating both the track and the car better absorb impact. Thank you Kevin Magnussen for trying everything to get back in the car in Italy.

Once we learned of Mercedes plans for Hamilton this weekend, qualifying lost its appeal. After all, the crew from Brackley added engines six, seven, and eight to the 44 car throughout Friday and Saturday, which means they also added a 55 grid position penalty to it. I think that means Hamilton will start in Brussels on the Rue de l’Ecuyer tomorrow.

With Hamilton’s penalty, Rosberg immediately became the heavy favorite for pole, which he achieved. Yay. (All kidding aside, Spa is a daunting track and competition from Red Bull and Ferrari and Force India proved formidable, so congratulations to Rosberg for the achievement. It’s his 28th, by the way.)

But with Rosberg-on-pole inevitability, qualifying did not disappoint. Max Verstappen, pumped up by legions of Dutch fans who popped across the border to watch, wrung the neck of the Red Bull chassis to grab P2, but a tenth behind Rosberg. Even more stunning, not only did Kimi Raikkonen out qualify his teammate, he came within a couple hundredths of taking P2 away from Verstappen. During post qualy interviews, Raikkonen spoke of a slow run through the chicane that cost him three-tenths during the lap, which meant pole was in reach. When is the last time we heard that from the Finn?

Spa is, I think, the greatest racetrack in the world today. And, starting from the back, Hamilton will put on a show working his way to the front. We also have unusually warm temps to disrupt many team’s tire allocation decisions. It may also rain. So look forward to a stunner of a grand prix. And look for Raikkonen to perhaps stun as well. Race win tomorrow? It’s possible.

Fifteen. That’s the number of points that Force India trails Williams in the Constructor’s World Championship (hence my super catchy headline ) If the Force India Formula 1 team gains 15 points over Williams within the next 10 races, they’ll finish fourth in the championship. Fourth! That means they’ll finish behind Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari; but in front of McLaren, Williams, Renault, Toro Rosso, and the rest. That’s incredible.

The team that spent the first 24 years of its life in Formula 1 as Jordan went through a fast cycle of name changes in the mid 2000’s. In 2005, it became the Midland team. Not long after, they changed again to Spyker F1. In 2008, Indian businessman Vijay Mallya bought the team and rebadged the apparel to the name we know today. From the beginning, we’ve seen a relatively steady rise in performance, from back marker to solid-mid-pack. These days, especially the middle of the 2016 season, seeing both Force India cars in the points is no surprise.

Season

Points

WCC

2008

0

10th

2009

13

9th

2010

68

7th

2011

69

6th

2012

109

7th

2013

77

6th

2014

155

6th

2015

136

5th

2016

74*

5th*

*So Far

WCC = World Constructor Championship

Breakout performances from Mexican driver Sergio Perez put Force India on the podium twice this year. Hulkenberg finished as high as sixth. And both drivers earned points in seven of the twelve Grands Prix. Perez has certainly led the charge, collecting 48 points, compared with Hulkenberg’s 33. In fact, performance from Perez piqued the interest of other teams. And rumors abound that he may sit in the Renault cockpit in 2017. I’m not sure that’s a good idea.

In Germany today, Hulkenberg and Perez finished seventh and tenth, respectively, adding seven points to Force India’s tally. At Williams, Bottas only managed ninth and Massa DNF’d. Even more stark, in the last three grand prix, Force India scored 22 points, compared with Williams earning just 4. At this rate, Force India may well surpass Williams and take fourth in the championship. In 2016, Renault sits ninth with six points. As a factory team, they will certainly improve in 2017. But how much is a risk. Just ask Pastor Maldonado. My advice? Stay where you are, Sergio Perez. Ride the Force India wave for another year, who knows where it might take you.

In Q3, Rosberg had but one chance. In the opening minutes an electrical glitch forced him to pit for a quick fix. Once Mercedes fixed the car, there was barely enough time to complete two laps in succession. Turns out he only needed one. While Engineers and mechanics went to work on the German’s car, Hamilton set a new lap record, a blistering 1 minute, 14.470 second lap around the 2.8 mile (4.6 km) Hockenheim circuit, the Briton comfortably ahead of everyone. But in the waning minutes, on Rosberg’s first flier, he set the quickest sector one and sector three times and went on the set a 1 minute 14.363 time. Pole by a tenth. Hamilton had time to respond and attempted to do so. Indeed his sector one time beat Rosberg’s by a tenth, but a lock up in sector two cost him time, which he was unable to recover in sector three. Rosberg won Pole, his 27th all-time and 5th of the season.

Hamilton responded with hilarious, thinly veiled disgust. During the post qualy interviews, he could muster no more than simple, 4 or 5 word answers to questions and refused to admit to any issue with the car or mistake in his driving. Instead of looking Rosberg in the eye, or saying his name, or acknowledging his existence, Hamilton continually rubbed his eyes and face with the white towel on the table. I can only conclude that Hamilton infuriated himself and headed to the interview table red-hot. Because circumstances left no one else to blame, emotions boiled over. It was either sit stilted and awkward, or throw dinner plates against the wall. And Hamilton couldn’t find any plates.

Why? Hamilton, you’re three times Formula 1 World Champion. You’ve won more races this season than many drivers manage in a career. More often than not, you outperform Rosberg. In fact, many fans consider you to possess the most natural talent of anyone on the grid today, a few think ever.

So often Rosberg has to take your better pace on the chin. How many times have we heard him say, “Hamilton was faster today.” It’s Rosberg’s home race. He’s fast here. He won the last race at Hockenheim. Give him this one. I read in Autosport that you feel like you let your mechanics down. I’m sure they forgive you. Now forgive yourself and take a moment congratulate your teammate for goodness sake.

Pascal Wehrlein, clearly. So say the numbers at least. First and most obvious, Wehrlein is ahead in the Driver’s Championship, 17th with one point verses Gutierrez in 19th with none. Gutierrez has a best finish of 11th. Dig one layer deeper and you see that Gutierrez clearly drives the quicker car. Haas currently sits 8th in the Constructor’s Championship, holding 28 points; Manor, on the other hand, clings on to Wehrlein’s single point and sits 10th. In fact, the two teams share the statistic of one driver delivering all the points.

But Esteban suffered bad luck this year, you say. So has Pascal. Gutierrez started the season with two DNF’s, but since finished every race. Wehrlein couldn’t finish on two occasions either. And here’s more numbers, Wehrlein averaged 16.6th place, Manor’s average 17.6th, Gutierrez mirrors that performance averaging 14.6th against Haas’s 13.5th. One clearly under-performs the other outperforms.

Being a Ferrari Development Driver played a big role in Gutierrez landing the race seat at Haas. But is it enough to keep it? See the stats for yourself here.

“So the brake pedal going to the floor is not classed as a safety issue? Quite interesting. I think Charlie [Whiting, FIA race director] needs to read up on what is safe and what isn’t.”

That was Jenson Button over the radio after receiving a drive-thru penalty for banned radio communication with his McLaren Honda team. It is yet another example of the silliness of the FIA’s radio rules. Had driver coaching from the engineers gone too far last year? Perhaps. Fans of the sport don’t benefit from teammate one being told that teammate two is faster in corner x, so try a different widget setting. But those same fans do benefit from seeing more cars finish the race and fight for positions. They do benefit from seeing their favorite driver compete and pass others, or fight to defend positions. Drivers can’t do that when things overheat or brake pedals go to the floor.

The call for the men in the cockpit to handle it themselves fails to recognize the incredible, and frankly outlandish, complication of a modern F1 machine. Hundreds of settings and sensors and data points and variables that teams of engineers monitor, literally hundreds. Is that what we love about drivers? Their sensitivity to hydraulic pressure and a memorized matrix of troubleshooting tactics? No! We love them because they enter a corner faster than the next guy, or dare to brake later, or pass on the outside in dirty air. That takes talent and courage. Learning spreadsheets do not. I’m a bit fed up with rules.

In fact the rules regarding track limits also sparks ire. The beauty of racing is that it demands bravery, the aforementioned courage and talent, but also cunning to find the fastest way around a circuit. If a driver does that by traveling extra distance to maintain a higher speed, I support it with all my heart. If Formula 1, the FIA, or track owners don’t like it, make going that way slower not faster. I admit there are occasions where it’s simply not possible, the chicane after the tunnel at Monaco is a good example. But drivers avoid that because it’s logical and purposeful and the curbing highly unsettles the car.

Ugh.

The good news? The vast majority of teams have voiced opinions and their cry for change gets louder. The Hungarian Grand Prix thrilled in a few senses. Throughout the race Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg stayed within three seconds of each other. Hamilton came out on top for the fifth time at this track. Matching his Canadian GP record of five out of ten. He also took the lead in the Driver’s Championship for the first time this year, now ahead by six points. But Rosberg’s home race is less than a week away and he’s fast there.

Q1 started and stayed wet, causing four red flags. One was a direct result of the weather. The other three, indirect as three drivers skid in to the wall: Marcus Ericsson from Sauber, Felipe Massa from Williams, and Rio Haryanto from Manor. Massa’s came after the second red flag and he was one of a few that decided to try intermediates on a still sopping track. But after the third red, several drivers felt brave enough to run inters and indeed the track was drying, perhaps not quickly enough for Haryanto. Q1 took nearly an hour and yet didn’t get through the entire 18 minutes on the clock.

By Q2 the sun was out and the track began to dry quickly. Williams was one of the first to dare to put on intermediates and Williams again tempted fate and bolted super soft drys about half way through the session. Bottas fared better than Massa and indeed made it to Q3 for his efforts. In the final few minutes, lap times dropped a second or more at a time, the track forming a dry line in near record time. As time ran out, all 16 drivers were out attempting a last effort run. As a result, Both McLarens made it to Q3, but Raikkonen and Perez failed to follow suit.

Q3 gave drivers an essentially dry track, but that did little to calm the spectacle. Fernando Alonso led a group of drivers, including Hamilton, and spun in the middle sector. That caused a local yellow, which forced that group, including Hamilton, to slow. Legally not allowed to improve his sector time, Hamilton couldn’t better his first lap in the session. But Rosberg wasn’t in that group, Alonso was clear and the local yellow withdrawn when the German got to sector two. Call Rosberg lucky. Call his performance redemption. I call it the best qualifying we’ve seen this year.

I updated statistics through the British Grand Prix. Take a look. You know what caught my eye? Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg are tied in the Driver’s Championship with 26 points each, but Hulkenberg ranks 11th, Sainz, 12th. Do you think that’s right? Both have a single best result of P6, but the Hulk finished P7 twice, Sainz otherwise did no better than P8. Here’s the thing. Sainz average finish is 10.8 and has soundly outperformed his teammate, Kvyat. And that’s despite the Russian completing the first 4 races in the Red Bull, with a podium finish no less. Hulkenberg on the other hand is behind Perez by 21 points and has a 12.7 finish on average.

Something else to consider, Force India builds the faster car. The team is fifth in the Constructor’s Championship, and currently collecting over 7 points per grand prix on average. Toro averages only about 4 points per race. What that shows, Sainz carries Toro Rosso while Force India carries Hulkenberg. So say the numbers, at least.

It’s a shame the rules for championship order put Sainz behind, but he may have the last laugh. As I’ve said multiple times, we may see the silliest silly season in quite a while. Sainz has impressed. Big teams are looking. In fact, he was on the short list for Ferrari before they decided to retain Raikkonen for 2017.

Nico Rosberg needs a hug. Already tense from yet another altercation with his teammate in Austria, Britain cut Rosberg open, rubbed salt in the wound, then poked it with a stick. In my view, he did nothing to deserve the treatment he received over the weekend.

Hamilton started the cut on Rosberg with blistering performance. Rosberg, nor anyone else, matched the Brit, Saturday or Sunday, wet or dry. Rosberg kept Hamilton honest, but never really posed any real threat. Mercedes then lacerated Rosberg further with a fussy transmission that gave him trouble late in the race. For whatever reason, the German’s box would stick in seventh gear. Via telemetry, Mercedes talked Rosberg through a temporary fix that allowed him to finish the race without losing any positions.

But then the crowd at Silverstone poured salt in the wound in bucket loads by booing the second place finisher loudly and sustained. Why? What did Rosberg do to them? Yes, Austria happened. And yes, people have varying opinions on whom to blame. But Hamilton came out ahead there too, and it’s over. In fact, Britain, an entire Grand Prix happened afterwards—right before your eyes. So why shame Rosberg with such collective distain? I found it disrespectful to the sport, honestly. And I’m not any kind of Rosberg fan boy. I simply revere any human being who achieves that level of success in that complicated of a machine. Bravo to Mark Webber for defending Rosberg and shame on Hamilton for not.

Later that afternoon, before Rosberg’s salty wound even fully closed, the FIA got out their poking stick and went to town. In their very finite wisdom, the FIA decided to penalize Rosberg, not Mercedes, for giving him the necessary information to make his transmission behave and finish the race. The stewards added 10 seconds to his race result. That action moved Rosberg from second to third, dropped his points gained from 18 to 15, and tightened his championship lead from four to one single point. The FIA accomplished nothing with these additional, confusing, irrational rules. I don’t like them. I think the sport suffers as a result. As do drivers like Sergio Perez and Nico Rosberg, stuck between a rock and a hardheaded place. They are the bookends. You either don’t finish the race, or you finish and get penalized.

Rosberg, if you can make it to Michigan, I’ll give you a hug. Otherwise, take solace in a most-likely friendlier crowd you’ll see next in Budapest. And friendlier still in Germany, a Grand Prix you won in the previous outing.

Shucking off any sweat remaining from the drama of last week, Lewis Hamilton dominates qualifying at Silverstone, and will start on the pole for the British Grand Prix. Hamilton dealt with a fair share of issues throughout qualifying. Rosberg beat Hamilton in Q1. And in Q3, the FIA disallowed Hamilton’s first time because he exceeded track limits. So when the 44 Mercedes set-off for the second time, it was do or die. Much to the joy of the large crowd of Brits, it was do. Hamilton’s fastest lap of the day actually came during Q2. His time of 1:29.243 beat everyone else by at least seven-tenths of a second.

During each qualifying session, the safety stewards cracked down on exceeding track limits. Other then the aforementioned Hamilton lap during Q3, both Kevin Magnussen and Fernando Alonso lost their respective fast laps at the time. This, in my opinion is a stupid rule. If you don’t want drivers to drive beyond arbitrary limits, make the edge of the track less arbitrary. How about a meters width of grass before you reach the paved run-off? Drivers won’t want to touch that, so job done. Even worse, the stewards decided to eliminate laps only if driver’s ruffled their track limit feathers in turns nine and fifteen. Some cars egregiously left the track in different corners, no problem. So the FIA took a stupid rule and inconsistently enforced it.

The FIA didn’t stop there. Complaining that teams are saying too much over the radio, they plan to penalize chatter that they deem outside the rules. The fuzzy, complicated rules. The rules that cost Perez a race finish in Austria because Force India couldn’t tell him about the car’s failing brakes. When the FIA decides to penalize someone for radio talk, especially if that penalty changes someones race result, I expect instant and harsh anger from fans and teams alike. Silly rule.

Ferrari just resigned Kimi Raikkonen for the 2017 season. He thanked Ferrari by out-qualifying his teammate and placed the car P5. In even better news, Raikkonen’s new deal means that I am not older than the oldest driver in the sport for another year. Phew.

Another point that’s worth repeating: Pole time of 2016 is three seconds faster than last year and the fastest time ever recorded on this configuration of Silverstone, which F1 started running in 2010. As you can see from the table below, the hybrid V6 now comfortably outpaces the V8 cars.

2016 pole lap: 1:29.287

2015 pole lap: 1:32.248

2014 pole lap: 1:35.766

2013 pole lap: 1:29.607

2012 pole lap: 1:51.746

2011 pole lap: 1:30.399

2010 pole lap: 1:29.615

The British Grand Prix will entertain, but how? Will Hamilton drive off into the proverbial sunset? Or will Verstappen win a second grand prix because Rosberg and Hamilton collect each other again? These days it’s a roll of the dice.

Is Lewis Hamilton a good teammate? Those relationships never seem to end well. In his formula 1 history, he’s had a few of them. In fact, here’s a table:

YEAR

TEAM

MATE

2007

McLaren

Fernando Alonso

2008

McLaren

Heikki Kovalainen

2009

McLaren

Heikki Kovalainen

2010

McLaren

Jenson Button

2011

McLaren

Jenson Button

2012

McLaren

Jenson Button

2013

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg

2014

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg

2015

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg

2016

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg

Each one of these pairings started joyous, or at least professional, and ended strained, or worse. 2016 is the first year that Hamilton has the same teammate four years in a row. When this partnership started in 2013, Nico Rosberg and Hamilton were friends and they immensely respected each other as drivers. But once Mercedes built the clear front-runner in 2014, the two sparred, aggressively, and the friendship began to erode.

Then came the 2014 Belgium Grand Prix. On the second-lap the two collided with each other. Mercedes, and most everyone else, blamed Rosberg, but clearly both drivers played a role. From that point on any faint resemblance of a bond between the Mercedes duo vanished, Rosberg and Hamilton no longer friends, but work colleagues.

At the time of Spa, 2014, Rosberg led the championship. Now in 2016, we see similar circumstances. Rosberg is ahead, hungry for his first title. But he feels massive, unrelenting pressure from Hamilton. So far, Rosberg has raced better this year than ever before, his drive in Baku was brilliant. But after the incident in Spielberg, he and Hamilton collided three times, including Spain and Canada.

Who’s to blame? Rosberg, most say. But I’m less certain. I think, in aggregate at least, both drivers deserve equal blame. And both require an equal tongue thrashing from Toto Wolff. In my view, Rosberg defends with extreme aggression and Hamilton overtakes with comparable extreme. Roles reversed in Canada and Rosberg ended up in the grass, lucky not to damage the car.

Maybe it’s as simple as this: Hamilton is faster, Rosberg needs to deal. Or maybe Hamilton refuses to respect his teammate, and uses his status as team favorite to steer blame towards that teammate. Hamilton is faster, undeniably. But could he be better.

The suspension carnage we saw at the Red Bull Ring convinced me the street course at Baku must have made a deal with Spielberg to finish its work. The destruction at the European Grand Prix seemed eerily absent as most everyone expected to see many more chards of carbon before that checked flag flew.

Alas, this time round we have curbing, not walls to blame. Dietrich Mateschitz recently repaved the Ring, and installed new curbing as well. That combination, along with yet another new tire pressure mandate, managed to put unforeseen stress on suspension members as no less than four different teams suffered failures:

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, practice

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, practice

Sergio Perez, Force India, qualifying

Daniel Kvyet, Toro Rosso, qualifying

To pump up the drama further, rain started falling near the end of Q2, putting an abrupt end to the already stunted session as both Toro Rosso cars failed spectacularly. Kvyat, with the aforementioned suspension failure, caused a massive crash and red flag period. Kvyat was unharmed. And Sainz Jr. blew a power unit, which resulted in local yellows in sectors one and two as the clock ticked to zero. But almost miraculously, rain stopped before Q3. This made for order-shuffling drying conditions and in the last four minutes, teams even switched back to dry weather tires.

In the end, Lewis Hamilton nabbed the number one spot, besting Rosberg by over half a second. The top Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel, secured fourth, but he, nor anyone else, could compete with Force India. This time Nico Hulkenberg timed things right and took the third position, shaking off any disappoint from the last GP. Jenson Button put on a marvelous last lap to qualify fifth, beating Raikkonen by one-thousandth of a second.

Frankly though, none of these laps impressed as much as Pascal Wehrlein, who not only got the Manor into Q2 for the first time, but solidly so, he will line-up tomorrow 12th on the grid. Manor lacks the downforce of the top teams, but enjoyed some of the best straight-line speeds in the field. Rio Haryanto will start 19th.

Both Rosberg and Vettel received five-place grid penalties for replacing gearboxes. That means Hulkenberg actually starts along side Hamilton on the first row. And Button alongside Raikkonen on the second row. If Hamilton bogs the start, the Hulk could well lead the pack in to turn one.

No matter what happens tomorrow, Austria put on quite the show today. And left us with interesting questions. Will the FIA do anything about the carbon cracking curbs? Will more weather come and continue to shake up the field? And, had it been dry all-day Saturday, just how fast would pole time been? Last year’s was 1:08.455. This year we beat it by over half a second, and the track was damp.

How did it happen? After all the carnage on Friday, several mistakes on Saturday, and two yellow flag ridden GP2 races, most everyone thought the Baku street course would invite many drivers to take the moped ride of shame from their mangled cars to pit garage, helmets hung low. But no, aside from the occasional local flag flown for cars set to DNF, the race ran clean and green, lap one through fifty-one.

Nico Rosberg won the race, easily, his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, finished in fifth, nearly a minute behind. For a large chunk of the race, Hamilton suffered from a “d-rate” issue, a problem that reduces electric motor output, and indeed total power. This particular fault merely took some fiddling with settings on the steering wheel to fix. But here’s the perplexing bit, the team couldn’t tell Hamilton which settings to change because current FIA rules forbid such topics of discussion over the radio.

Kimi Raikkonen suffered similar troubles in his Ferrari. He bemoaned the FIA’s rules, publically and repeatedly. And I have to agree with him, what purpose do these rules serve? Improving the show? I don’t think so. For the Finn, it’s unclear whether fixing the problem would’ve allowed him to keep Perez over five seconds behind him and stay in third (he received a five-second penalty for crossing the pit-in line without pitting in). Alas, he managed fourth and received 12 points for his efforts, overtaking Ricciardo for fourth in the Driver’s Championship.

Mercedes carried the widest performance gap from its competitors we’ve seen this season. Sebastian Vettel, finished second, but 17-seconds behind. Force India showed major pace in Baku, with Sergio Perez stepping on the podium in third. Hulkenberg botched qualifying and performed so-so in the race, finishing ninth. On the whole though, great day for the Silverstone based team. They scored 17 points, comparing favorably to both Red Bull and Williams, who scored 10 and 9 points, respectively.

Just outside the points, Button finished 11th for McLaren, Alonso exited the race early with a problem. Among the small teams, Sauber finished well, Felipe Nasr snagged 12th ahead of top Haas driver, Romain Grosjean.

In many ways, the European Grand Prix was flawed. Held the same weekend as Le Mans, which is poor form. And the street course came with a couple corners with questionable safety standards. But we saw 230 mph top speeds—on a street course! That’s crazy good. And the fact that F1 held a race on a track that eschews the bland trend towards homogenization? That’s crazy better.

Baku City street circuit sparked controversy among many of the drivers. The fast street course and fresh pavement also cracked its fair share of carbon fiber, bent a bit of metal, and checked a few egos.

Most notably, Lewis Hamilton’s. The winner of the previous two grands prix suffered through a miserable Saturday. He made mistakes every qualy session. In Q2, a major lock-up with two and a half minutes to spare threatened Hamilton’s ability to even attempt for the top ten. Just in time, the Brit got back on track and pulled off a quick enough lap. Friday, Lewis was the pacesetter, so a pole run is what most expected. Not so, with two minutes and five seconds left, Hamilton turned-in too early, clipped the wall, and ended his day in tenth with a bent right-front corner.

Rosberg, in contrast, stayed clean and on-track. He efficiently and consistently improving his time, and used fewer tires than his teammate to do it. Not only did Rosberg comfortably take pole position, he retained more fresh rubber for the race tomorrow.

The other team to split performance was Force India. Nico Hulkenberg failed to understand his engineer and didn’t push on his final Q2 lap, bailing after a small lock-up early in the run. As a result he starts 12th. Sergio Perez not only made it to Q3. He pulled off a blistering lap and managed to take outside pole. A gearbox penalty pushes the Mexican back five positions, so he’ll grid seventh. But everyone, including the top team principals, saw his brilliant performance.

And a shout-out to Daniel Ricciardo for putting the Red Bull in P3, he’ll start on the front row courtesy of the Perez penalty. Two takeaways from his performance: One, you just can’t keep the Australian down. Two, Renault has a competitive power plant this year.

Baku will almost certainly be a memorable grand prix, and just may set a new record for most damaged front wings and suspension arms.

Maybe it’s my love of poutine, or the northern air, or even the US friendly time zone, but Montreal always delivers a great Grand Prix. It’s a street course, and a permanent racetrack—sort of, at least. It combines Long straights, memorable corners, with the infamous Wall of Champions. Tire, pit, and race strategy are often novel and different. A wonderful Quebecois twist on the normal, at times even formulaic, racing we see. I’m sure Hamilton agrees; he’s now won five of the ten Canadian Grands Prix he entered. That’s right, in Canada, Hamilton winning carries the same odds as tails on a flipped coin.

Rosberg, however, likely left Montreal without even a quick stop for a smoked meat sandwich. The German once again colliding with his teammate, no damage to the car this time, luckily, but he did bruise his ego. On lap 51, Rosberg suffered a tire puncture. Upon re-entering the race, he couldn’t get past Max Verstappen in fourth place, spinning the car in one final desperate attempt. Rosberg started the season with four wins, but only scored 16 points in the three races since.

Verstappen also stayed ahead of his teammate, as Ricciardo dealt with more nonsensical Red Bull behavior and straight bad luck. Despite qualifying ahead of the Dutchman, Rosberg’s lap-one off track incident caught Ricciardo out and put him behind. Then more shenanigans in the pits dropped him to seventh. With each new race comes a new weight on Ricciardo’s shoulders. Perhaps another team will better suit his driving and help him retain that million dollar smile.

Ferrari qualified well in Canada. Showing their power unit is competitive with Mercedes. And while Vettel lead part of the race, his pace, and perhaps strategy, couldn’t quite keep up with Silver Arrows. With perspective and a bit of hindsight, I hope Ferrari left North America satisfied that their car, team, and driver development are all headed in the right direction.

Finally, a heart felt shout out to Williams, congratulations on a well-deserved podium.

Saturday in Montreal brought a touch of rain for, at times, a mildly damp track, which added to the drama, but not the lap time. Here are six highlights:

Fernando Alonso made it to Q3, if only just. Jenson Button did not. During his last Q2 lap he locked up, which cost some time, but Button blames his P12 on not getting a tow (a draft) from another car. Instead, Alonso got Button’s tow, the Britain claims.

Ricciardo ahead of Verstappen, for now. Once again Verstappen seemed to have the edge on Ricciardo in qualifying. But, as in Spain, the Australian pulled out a killer time in Q3 to take P4 and it took a brush of the Wall of Champions to do it. Lucky for Ricciardo, it didn’t damage the car.

Gutierrez edged Grosjean to take P14. Grosjean complained of his car’s balance as “miles off,” which “means you can’t drive the car as you like.” No matter, his fast lap was a quarter of a second longer than his teammate, only good enough for P15. Far from the early form Haas began the season, but more akin to what everyone expected.

Kvyat bests Sainz by six seconds to start 13th on the grid. Of course Sainz hit the wall of champions early on in Q2, so never set an actual lap. His lap in Q1 was a 1 min 14. 714 sec, over a tenth quicker than his Russian teammate.

Mercedes back in front, but by less of a margin than many expected. Hamilton won pole with his first flying lap as Rosberg couldn’t quite match it and suffered a big lock up on his second attempt.

This is the tightest run for pole we’ve seen in a while. It’s very encouraging to see six tenths of a second cover the top five. Enough so, we may see an honest to goodness fight for the lead in the race. And not just between teammates, either Ferrari or Red Bull could challenge. For full results click here.

-Robin

]]>1254Monaco Grand Prix in Pictureshttp://funwithcars.com/monaco-grand-prix-in-pictures/
Fri, 10 Jun 2016 03:55:18 +0000http://funwithcars.com/?p=1240As Jamey Price said, Monaco supersedes Formula 1. The culture and atmosphere is larger than life. The pomp and circumstance is uncanny. And the racing is the most wonderfully absurd. Jim and I watched, loved, and produced an over hour long podcast about Monaco. Jamey Price did better. He Spent five days at the principality and shot amazing photography. Below is but a glimpse at Jamey’s work.

Monaco at night, basically backlit money. What a scene, what a place. In this electric photo, the entire principality is alive, land and sea.

Lewis Hamilton’s win and Nico Rosberg’s seventh place finish change the trajectory of the championship. Hamilton outpaced Rosberg in the wet, so much so Mercedes ordered Rosberg aside. Later on we learned Rosberg suffered brake trouble and couldn’t push. He went on to finish seventh, earning six points. Now Hamilton is within one race win of taking the championship lead.

Red Bull Racing cut a deep fissure in the bond with their Australian superstar, Daniel Ricciardo. Two races in a row now, team decisions cost him a win. In Spain it’s easy to see the team’s side of the call. Not today. Ricciardo paced Monaco at a winning speed, but when he arrived in the pits mid-race the crew did not have tires waiting. This mistake cost Ricciardo at least five seconds and quite possibly the win. On the podium, the Australian looked dejected and was dismissive and downbeat.

Max Verstappen showed his age…again. Quite simply he pushed too hard, locked up, and hit the wall. After the win in Spain, it’s excusable. But perhaps this is the beginning of too much pressure placed upon a too youthful soul. Canada will be telling for the soft drink magnate’s team’s health.

Sauber in deep trouble. Already financially strapped, the teammates took each other out. Nasr refused to follow orders to let the faster Ericksson by, then Ericksson got anxious and looked for a gap that didn’t exist and ruined both their races. Who deserves more blame? I say Nasr. What do you think?

Double points for McLaren. Button finished ninth, Alonso fifth. A strong result for the team that continues to crawl toward the front. More to come from McLaren? I think Canada will give a great indication of how the Honda pulls. If it does, it will be good. Very good.

Hamilton and Ricciardo dominated coverage. But so much more happened. I always love the Monaco GP. And this year was better than most.

-Robin

]]>http://funwithcars.com/five-highlights-from-the-monaco-grand-prix/feed/21228Six highlights from qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prixhttp://funwithcars.com/monaco-grand-prix-qualifying/
Sat, 28 May 2016 21:57:37 +0000http://funwithcars.com/?p=1224Qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix produced two red flags, a first time pole sitter, a wrecked car, a blown engine, and a lapse in Mercedes dominance. It was thrilling. Here are six of my favorite facts from Qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix:

Red Bull very nearly bookend the grid today. Verstappen finally acted his age and made a mistake, damaged the car, and will start on the back row.

Ricciardo collected his first ever pole position with a stunning lap of 1 min 13.6 secs. That’s 1.5 seconds faster than last year’s pole time, when Hamilton laid a 1 min 15.1 sec lap.

Rosberg out qualified Hamilton, who once again suffered from engine trouble. Within the first few seconds of Q3, Hamilton radioed his team with engine trouble, the team scrambled to get the car back out with six minutes to spare. All was not well, however, as Hamilton took several laps before making a real attempt at pole. His first two sectors were quickest of all, yet he came three-tenths short at the checker. Something was clearly still amiss.

Ferrari’s laps couldn’t compete with the top two teams, meaning there’s still work to be done to gain downforce. In fact splitting the two prancing horses, Nico Hulkenberg nabbed an impressive top five. The German showing, yet again, he deserves a top team ride.

Carlos Sainz is two-for-two in out qualifying Kvyat. The Russian unable to convince anyone he still deserves his recently lost seat.

And McLaren continues to inch forward with Alonso setting a fast enough time to make Q3, even if only just.

]]>11990:44:25Our coverage of the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix (and a bit about the Russian GP too)
Follow-up
Discussion
Verstappen smashes youngest F1 winner record
Ricciardo: “We threw the win away”
Hamilton and Rosberg crash: Who was to blame?
Fun with Cars Pre[...]Our coverage of the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix (and a bit about the Russian GP too)
Follow-up
Discussion
Verstappen smashes youngest F1 winner record
Ricciardo: “We threw the win away”
Hamilton and Rosberg crash: Who was to blame?
Fun with Cars Predictions
#FwCars on Twitter
More Fun with Cars: Website | Facebook | Twitter
Hosts: Jim Lau & Robin WarnerFun With Cars NetworknonoStats post Russian Grand Prixhttp://funwithcars.com/stats-post-russian-grand-prix/
Tue, 10 May 2016 04:58:40 +0000http://funwithcars.com/?p=1203Ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, coming up 15 May 2016, Fun with Cars put together statistics of the season thus far. We sorted the teams in alphabetical order, then placed the drivers in that team in championship order. There are 8 categories:

Number of wins

Best Result

Average Result

Number of times a points finished was achieved

Total points scored

Average points scored per race

Percentage of possible points scored

Championship postion*

*With no points scored, our championship order may vary slightly from what Formula1.com reports.

Look for updates after each Grand Prix and please don’t hesitate to point out mistakes. We look forward to hear your opinions on what the numbers tell us. I’ll get us started with a couple that caught my eye.

Nico Rosberg scored 100% of the possible points he could score with his four wins.

Mercedes scored 91% of the possible points the team could score.

Haas is fifth in the Constructors Championship, ahead of Toro Rosso, McLaren, and Force India. Every one of 22 points scored by Romain Grosjean.

Fourth in the championship is undeclared and could prove both exciting and important. Call it the battle of the Finns. Valtteri Bottas currently holds the mark by a single point. Kimi Raikkonen, his countryman and oldest driver on the grid and 2007 Formula 1 World Champion, has 135 points and, based on Friday free practice times at least, the quicker car. The elder of the two also has a second place finish in Bahrain. The best Bottas managed this year is third, which means a tie in points falls Raikkonen’s way. It couldn’t be closer.

The graph below shows every possible outcome.

They could finish 111 different ways. Green goes to Bottas, which happens in 56 cases, blue means Raikkonen triumphs, 55 chances of that. The numbers in the boxes equal the margin of victory (Raikkonens are negative because of the math I used).

Actually three drivers could claim the most coveted available spot. Felipe Massa, currently sixth, is 18 points behind Raikkonen. But for Massa to take it, he’d have to win the race and have the good fortune of both Bottas and Raikkonen finishing seventh or worse. Not impossible, though the rule of probability effectively throws him out, so we’re back to Finland.

Okay, my money won’t bet on either one winning the race, but just about any other result is plausible. One of them on the podium even creeps towards likely. All things considered, Raikkonen stands with momentum, the faster car, and more resourceful team on his side. I think he’ll take it. But, if Bottas holds position and finishes the season in fourth, he may very well join Vettel in Ferrari red in 2017.

]]>11121:04:36Our coverage of the 2015 Singapore and Japanese Grands Prix
Discussion
Grosjean to race for Haas F1 in 2016
William to provide technical support to Manor
Manor to run Mercedes engines in 2016
Mercedes will definitely, 100% not provide engine to Re[...]Our coverage of the 2015 Singapore and Japanese Grands Prix
Discussion
Grosjean to race for Haas F1 in 2016
William to provide technical support to Manor
Manor to run Mercedes engines in 2016
Mercedes will definitely, 100% not provide engine to Red Bull
Volkswagen in a bit for a smoggy pickle
Raikkonen penalised for Bottas clash
Brawn part of team glory – Hamilton
Predictions from us and our fans
More Fun with Cars: Website | Facebook | Twitter
Hosts: Jim Lau & Robin Warner
Fun With Cars NetworknonoPodcast 186: Singapore & Japanese Grands Prix 2015http://funwithcars.com/186/
Sun, 27 Sep 2015 18:13:45 +0000http://funwithcars.com/?p=1107Our coverage of the 2015 Singapore and Japanese Grands Prix

]]>10691:01:36Our coverage of the 2015 British Grand Prix
Discussion
Feedback
Top three teams take the top six places on the grid
Who will replace Raikkonen? Raikkonen? Or someone else?
Cracking race!
No penalties for first lap melee
Grosjean thinks Riccardo de[...]Our coverage of the 2015 British Grand Prix
Discussion
Feedback
Top three teams take the top six places on the grid
Who will replace Raikkonen? Raikkonen? Or someone else?
Cracking race!
No penalties for first lap melee
Grosjean thinks Riccardo deserves a time out
Aston Martin linked to Red Bull-Mercedes deal
Predictions from us and our fans
More Fun with Cars: Website | Facebook | Twitter
Hosts: Jim Lau, Robin Warner & Jamey Price
Fun With Cars NetworknonoPodcast 181: Austrian Grand Prix 2015http://funwithcars.com/181/
Mon, 22 Jun 2015 17:19:10 +0000http://funwithcars.com/?p=1064Our coverage of the 2015 Austrian Grand Prix